Guy Fawkes was born in York on 13th April 1550. He was baptized at St Micheal le Belfry church originally therefore he was a Protestant. He attended and was educated at St. Peter's school in York however it was while he was there his life took a tragic turn. His father died and his mother married a catholic thereafter, this was Guy Fawkes' first taste of Catholicism.
After school he went into the army having converted to Catholicism. He fought in the 80 years war and became an explosives expert for the Spanish against the Dutch. It was in this war where he adopted the name Guido, and also here where he met some of his fellow conspirators, having been refused revolutionary support from Phillip of Spain. He met Thomas Wintour who introduced him to Robert Catesby, who told him of a plot to assassinate the king.
The conspirators gained the lease of the chamber underneath the House of Lords where they planted gunpowder. However after an anonymous tip, on November 5th, the chamber was searched and Fawkes was found guarding the gunpowder. He was tortured ,questioned and broken until he eventually told the authorities what was afoot. He was hung at the neck, drawn and quartered till death on 31st January 1606.
Although clearly we cannot advocate high treason.,, I believe we in York should be proud of Guy Fawkes. He is undoubtedly the most famous yorkie of all time, he is internationally famous and a huge part of our city's great history
